The Other Side of the Wall

This Sunday I met up with a family and went with them to a building with a 6 food electric fence and glass shards on top of the wall surrounding that. There was a beggar sitting outside that didn't have a leg and it seemed almost ominous. This wasn't some haunted house or government building in the middle of a war, it was a church. The first real church I have seen since I have been here. 

I didn't even bring a Bible to China because I didn't want to risk anything (risk what, I am not quite sure). Walking to this church was refreshing even with the massive shards of glass at the entrance protecting it. I didn't feel unsafe or like I would be attacked. it was pretty funny because I happened to be going to this church on the day of the 90th year of the Communist party. Ironic, huh? But I will have to admit, it was surreal going to this church. The bigger building was the "chinese service" and we were sent to the still pretty but smaller building for the English service. Even in the English service, white was by far the minority. I could possibly count the number of white people in about a minute even though there were about 150 people in the room. It was interesting even more that 2 American families were leaving after being there for 9 years. It seems that no one intends to stay in Shanghai for the rest of their lives. They requested to know at the end of the service who was there for their last summer. About 15 people raised their hand... 3/4 were white. 

Being in China has made me think that I could definitely live in Shanghai. It is not too different than the US in some areas. But being in the church made me think about my future more and more. Do I want to be that person that never expects to stay in one place for the rest of their life? This isn't the hour and half move that I did when I was 9, this is completely displacing yourself only to know that this isn't really home for the rest of your life. I know that if I went to China, it would not be for the rest of my life. The family that I stayed with was already talking about how they were going back to America in 4 years. But I don't want to grow a life and family in an area just to decide to totally move them after 7 years. 

The future is a scary one. Good thing I was able to go to church this week, because God only knows where I am going to end up. The same goes for whoever is reading this. 

On another note: Eating Mexican food in China... sooo surreal but a great change from chopsticks and chinese food. And in case anyone was wondering, no I still cannot use chopsticks very well. 

One month down. Beijing tomorrow!

-Abs